Summary
- Air Senegal has flown to the US since 2021.
- The airline’s sole remaining destination, JFK, struggles with poor loads.
- Limited flights to major Anglophone West African destinations hinder traffic development.
Few international airlines serving the US get as little attention as Air Senegal. The troubled carrier is tiny. It has just eight aircraft, comprising a mixed fleet of ATR 72, A319, A321, and A330neo. However, it continues to lease widebody equipment, although the exact aircraft type and lessor changes.
Flightradar24 indicates that Air Senegal has used 9H-TQY (shown below), a 26.6-year-old A340, since July 18, 2024. It replaced another A340 that operated earlier in the month. Both aircraft were from aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) provider Hi Fly Malta. For now, 9H-TQY is exclusively deployed to New York JFK, Air Senegal’s sole US link.
Wet leasing is very expensive – and more so if you use the gas-guzzling A340. Air Senegal’s continued reliance on wet-leased equipment is because the US Federal Aviation Administration has not yet conducted its audit on the airline.
Air Senegal to the US
The West African carrier has served the US since the pandemic-impacted 2021. It started flying Dakar-New York JFK-Baltimore, which was highly unusual. The aircraft remained in JFK en route to Baltimore for around three hours as passengers had to clear immigration.
On arriving in Baltimore mid-morning, the aircraft remained on the ground until mid-evening, designed for connectivity over Dakar. Curiously, Air Senegal intended to serve Washington Dulles instead of Baltimore but switched to the Maryland airport shortly before the route commenced.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
It has used multiple aircraft across the North Atlantic – A330neo, A330-200, A330-300, and A340-300 – which is problematic for cost, complexity, and product inconsistency. Imagine booking it without knowing what equipment will be used! That’s especially off-putting when you could fly Delta daily instead.
Poor loads meant Air Senegal pulled out of Baltimore in January 2023, leaving Dakar-JFK on a terminator basis, a setup that continues today. Political rather than commercial considerations undoubtedly partly drive the airline’s US operation and overall existence.
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Half of JFK seats were filled in April
Poor loads continue on Dakar-JFK. According to Cirium schedule information, Air Senegal has served Dakar-JFK twice-weekly for some time. It is among the USA’s least-served international routes, and Air Senegal is among JFK’s least-seen passenger operators.
The US Department of Transportation T-100 data indicates that Air Senegal carried 2,543 roundtrip JFK passengers in April 2024 (the most recent month available to me). It was a month during which Air Senegal deployed 9H-HFK (shown below), a 16.3-year-old A330-200 from Hi Fly Malta.
Some 18 roundtrip Big Apple flights were operated in April, providing 4,842 seats for sale. This meant just 52% of the available seats were filled – nearly one in two were empty! Of course, this was just one month, but T-100 data shows that the average since August 2023 has been a poor 62%.
No flights to major Anglophone destinations in West Africa, especially Lagos and Accra, impede loads. According to booking data, around 53% of JFK passengers connected elsewhere in the region in April, with Freetown, Sierre Leone, being the most popular market. However, the traffic volume was tiny.
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